JioCoin Is In The Works

Reliance Jio Infocomm is going big on investing in blockchain technology, specifically to create its own version of cryptocurrency- JioCoin. Cryptocurrencies are not legally recognised in India, given that challenge, it will be interesting to watch how JioCoin does after it is launched.

2

What is it? The number of years for which all firms in the Price Waterhouse (PW) network have been barred from auditing listed companies and intermediaries (such as brokers), according to an order by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Why is it important? The market regulator has found the audit firm guilty in the nine-year-old Rs 7,136 crore Satyam Computer Services scam, saying that Price Waterhouse was in connivance with the main wrongdoers of the accounting fraud and did not comply with auditing standards. The company, in response, has said was no intentional wrong by PW firms and that it was confident of getting a stay from a court before Sebi’s order comes into force.

Tell me more: In January 2009, B Ramalinga Raju, the then chairman of Satyam, shocked the corporate world by admitting to have inflated the firm’s revenues and profits over several years in India’s biggest accounting scam, which is sometimes referred to as ‘India’s Enron‘.

Why is it important? The dip is mainly due to a decline in spending by banking and financial services clients. With the exception of BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) and retail, all industry verticals grew above 9.5% on an annual basis. With a tough 2017 for reasons including slow growth (mainly due to firms’ inability to grow their digital businesses) and the United States’ protectionist measures, for the IT industry, TCS’ business largely continued uninterrupted and also, won a $2.25 billion contract over nine years (the biggest by an Indian firm) from Nielsen.

Tell me more: In the quarter ended December, TCS saw a gross addition of 12,534 employees, taking its total headcount to 390,880.

50

What is it? The size of the team Reliance Jio Infocomm plans to create to work on blockchain technology. This technology is essentially a decentralised and distributed digital ledger where information exists as a shared and reconciled database.

Why is it important? Besides working on multiple applications such as smart contracts and supply chain management logistics, Reliance Jio plans to work on blockchain technology’s most popular application of cryptocurrency to create JioCoin. However, it remains to see how the firm’s newest ambition takes off given that cryptocurrencies are not legally recognised in India. Recently, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said cryptocurrencies are not legal tender and those transacting in it are doing so at their own risk.

Tell me more: Reliance Jio, which disrupted the telecom market in the last few months with its competitively-priced plans, has a total customer base of 152 million (as of November).

Why is it important? Besides being the first woman lawyer to take this route, Malhotra will be only the seventh woman judge since independence in the Supreme Court. At present, of the 25 judges in India’s apex court, 24 are men. The lone woman judge is Justice R Banumathi, whose term runs till July 2020.

Tell me more: The government still has to clear her appointment. As per rules, the government can return the recommendations of the collegium once, and even then the collegium has the final say on the appointment.

14

What is it? The seeding that Novak Djokovic, six-time Australian Open winner, was awarded yesterday for the 2018 tournament, which begins in Melbourne on Monday.

Why is it important? In the last six years, Djokovic has never been seeded outside the top two at a grand slam. But a forgettable 2017, plagued by poor results and an elbow injury that saw his year end at the halfway mark, have resulted in the ranking of the 12-time grand slam winner slip. At Melbourne, Djokovic has a difficult draw, and could face Gael Monfils, fourth seed Alexander Zverev and 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka to reach the semi-finals.

Tell me more: Last year’s winner Roger Federer is seeded second behind Rafael Nadal. In the women’s draw, the top two seeds are Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki.